1. Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to methods and apparatuses for improved wireless node beacon transmission.
2. Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). The UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks. As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continue to advance the UMTS technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.
For example, currently, user equipment (UE) (e.g. mobile stations, mobile computers, phones, PDAs, laptops, etc.) operating in a Wi-Fi network typically will not scan other channels if the signal strength from the serving wireless node is above a predetermined threshold. Therefore, as long as the serving wireless node is above this threshold, the UE cannot find stronger wireless nodes on other channels. Some UEs attempt to solve this problem by periodically scanning all channels. Unfortunately, such periodic scanning interrupts ongoing traffic and wastes UE battery—especially when a large number of channels are scanned and no stronger wireless node exists.
In addition, some wireless nodes use a separate transmission chain to periodically send beacons across non-serving channels to aid UEs in wireless node discovery processes. However, this method requires an additional chain for the wireless node and causes interference to other channels by transmitting beacons even if the wireless node has no open resources to accept a new user, such as when the wireless node has either high channel load or little available backhaul.
Therefore, methods and apparatuses of improved advertising beacon transmission are needed to improve UE battery life, reduce interference and network load, and generally minimize the complexity associated with wireless node discovery.